GARGANTUA!!!

That's what I have named the spider outside the window of my house. I was taking down the curtain to pack it away since I'm running behind on all my packing.

When I removed the curtain, about 1 foot in front of my face was a huge spider about a body about 1 1/2 inches lengthwise and 3/4 inch crosswise, and legs that were spiny and three inches long. What a big 'un!

It had built an orb-style web across the width of the entire top pane of the window. If the glass hadn't been there I probably would have had a little freakout, that's for sure! I took a picture because not only was she HUGE, but she had a two-inch egg sack up in the corner of the window and was also feeding on a moth as I watched. YUCK! But kinda cool too.

Because I am trying to educate myself about spiders so that they don't freak me out, I did a little bit of research. It's called an Argiope spider (or yellow garden spider). It's one of the biggest orb-weavers in Texas. Here's a site:

http://home.att.net/~larvalbugrex/argiope.html

And here's a picture that's much better than my cell phone picture:

BLEAGHHHH!!!!!